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User blog:Skull26374/Favorite Challenge Seasons
In honor of the official press release for XXX: Dirty 30 coming next month, I would like to dedicate today's blog to my favorite challenge seasons. Out of all 29 seasons that have aired, these are my top 5 favorite seasons, in no particular order: *'Battle of the Exes II:' Exes II is definitely my favorite season in this most recent era of challenges. In my opinion it had a great cast and great drama that came along with it. The ongoing power struggle between Bananas and Wes with Sarah in the middle actually ended up being interesting, though it was annoying to see Bananas able to return (the ex-ile twist was dumb imo). I enjoyed the missions even though it always feels like we have too many water missions per season and the eliminations were enjoyable as well. This season provided my favorite challenge moment, ever, in the history of this show: Sarah instantly tossing Bananas into elimination, then him losing. It was amazing even though everyone lost their shit at her. It worked out for her in the end though since she and Jordan won anyway so yay. It was also bittersweet to see Diem before her final moments, and Knight as well. *'Battle of the Seasons (2012):' This may be a very unpopular opinion but I LOVED BOTS. I feel like many found it boring because the lack of major competitors at the time but this season provided an incredibly refreshing cast and the main vets that were cast, aside from Sarah, didn't even make it far. There were fun missions and I enjoyed the 4-member teams as well as the elimination format. This debuted some important players in later seasons: Frank, Jemmye (maybe?), Nany, Zach and my fave Marie. The night in which the entire cast got into a huge fight and Marie threw Derek and Sam into a potted plant was amazing. This ended up being one of the worst mixes of people to put together lol. I just kinda wish San Diego didn't win, but they actually deserved it. Well Ashley, Frank, and Zach did at least. *'Battle of the Sexes:' Sexes is arguably the best "golden-era" challenge and is incredibly different from today's challenges in multiple ways. The cast was treated and edited as more of an ensemble cast rather than a starring cast with supporting members. There were no eliminations, just vote-offs and it was based on a point system depending on how well you performed in each challenge (the top 3 players on each side were the inner circle). This season also introduced really cutthroat gameplay, at least for the women's side as Emily Bailey, the original H.B.I.C., went on a massacre eliminating her strong female teammates such as Rachel and Veronica, then letting fellow inner circle members Ellen and Ruthie take the blame. It was really amazing actually until she quit because her boyfriend left. Seeing the cast partake in Puck's wedding, then later seeing him freak out and run around the house with a machete was something to see too as these moments will probably NEVER happen in today's seasons. Sexes 2 was kind of boring imo but if they ever bring back this format they really need to make the challenges an equal playing field for both sexes because the girls got WRECKED both seasons. *'Cutthroat:' Cutthroat was the second challenge I ever watched in full length and I loved it. The three team format made things a lot more interesting and I really enjoyed the secret voting over typical deliberations. I loved that Grey Team dominated missions and actually HATED the Red Team at the time because of how Brad, Dunbar, and Tori treated their teammates, mainly Brandon and Camila. Red Team didn't deserve the win and honestly probably wouldn't have gotten it if Abe and Sarah didn't get so sick, but Brad deserved a win at some point so oh well I guess. Some of my favorite challenges of all time are Bottleneck Stampede and Riot Act which were both intensely physical. Bananas being used as a Backpack will forever be a meme because of this season and remember when Tina was a heavy hitter and THREW the elimination? lol *'The Ruins:' The Ruins is really weird because the teams were horrendously lopsided and the season is infamous for what happened between Tonya and Evan and Kenny but I still really enjoyed it. The drama was great and seeing OG vets such as Susie, Syrus, and Veronica, and even Ibis to an extent, on the champs team was a treat in this era because they weren't really used much anymore. Memorable moments included Katie and the plunger, the trifecta of KellyAnne, Kimberly, and Sarah annihilating all of the champ girls aside from Susie, Casey ruining everything for her team all season, Brad vs. Darrell, Johanna literally threatening to sell Wes' house if he threw challenges, Veronica being voted into elimination then manipulating it so that Ibis of all people was forced in, Cohutta sending Wes home and ruining his elimination record, etc. This season actually was chock full of memorable moments and I think everyone should watch it if they haven't because I feel like it's really important to challenge history even though it had really predictable gameplay. I wanna know your favorite seasons as well! Category:Blog posts